Author
Topic: Contributing to the Kernel/Mudlib (Read 5730 times)

I'd like to say "hello" to everyone and also give a thanks to all involved in maintaining DS (and LPmuds in general really.) I remember fondly playing igormud (lima based) back in my teenage years (in fact, lp mud coding on lostsouls is what got me started in programming.) I kept tinkering with muds off and on (mostly off) for the last decade or so...

Ok that feels like its going to get longwinded so on to my question:

I was wondering if the base mudlib/mudos was still a work in progress.andWhat steps could someone take to learn the ropes and eventually join in maintaining the code?

(also is there an "official" DS mud? in other words a DS mud that is maintained and run by the maintainers of the DS code?)

(Edit - Ok the above question in retrospect was silly as mudlist shows a "dead souls" and "dead souls dev" mud and who @dead souls dev answers my question in its entirety)

I hope that these questions aren't reguarded as too forward, I would just love an opportunity to be a (small) part of keeping something great going.

FluffOS gets updates when Cratylus rounds up enough problems to get the hamsters on their wheel. And speaking of Crat, he has been maintaining the trunk development of DS taking us to 3.0, and he has recently announced he is going to start working on his game instead of just working on the distribution. Best way to contribute is to download the code and start working on it.

You sound like you've had some experience, but I don't want to assume, so... the driver (FluffOS, a fork of MudOS, and what you call the kernel) is written in plain old C and the mudlib (Dead Souls) is written in LPC. These are very different beasts, and the mudlib will probably be easier to start on unless you're already a leet haxor.

Releasing mudlib code in the Code Vault section of this forum is a good way to get it recognized. Whether it gets included in Dead Souls itself is up to Cratylus (and your licensing, if any). Even if it doesn't get put in DS, it'll always be there for others to use.

As for FluffOS, your best bet is to submit patches to someone who works on it, such as wodan on this forum, or just in the Driver section here.

FluffOS gets updates when Cratylus rounds up enough problems to get the hamsters on their wheel.

If only I did have that kind of pull with Wodan! Mostly I submit broken things to Wodannow and then, and if they affect him and they make sense he's kind enough to fix them and include them,and if they don't affect him he throws em in with a wink and a nudge.

Wodan, Hamlet, and Kalinash, in that order, are the current most-active contributors toFluffOS, and while I seem to hold some weird voodoo sway over Kali, the others are verymuch unhamstery* in regard to bending to my will, AFAICT

-Crat

*Assuming, of course, hamsters are obedient. Never had one, so I don't know.

Thanks for the helpful tips, I was looking for a starting point to do something useful (even if it is something small) since it seems like it is all too easy to work on a fork that doesn't end up helping the community. I'll take the advice and get familiarized with the code vault section.

Hamsters poop in your han d when you pick them up. It wouldve been better if I'd used the generally accepted colloquism of herding cats.

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Thanks for the helpful tips, I was looking for a starting point to do something useful (even if it is something small) since it seems like it is all too easy to work on a fork that doesn't end up helping the community. I'll take the advice and get familiarized with the code vault section.

There's a lot to be said for developing systems that are compat busters, but unless you are deep in your development and there is a ton of inheritables that are lost in the nether world, you've got quite a few people who can take your code and translate it back to vanilla DS or to their flavor of DS. New code is always appreciated and if it is nifty it gets used. So code contributions are always loved and appreciated.

Kalinash

Wodan, Hamlet, and Kalinash, in that order, are the current most-active contributors toFluffOS, and while I seem to hold some weird voodoo sway over Kali, the others are verymuch unhamstery* in regard to bending to my will, AFAICT